I want a biased announcer. I want a homer. Does everybody have to be a blow dried boring ESPN clone? Jack Brickhouse, Bob Prince, Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Chuck Thompson, even Ernie Harwell in his quiet subdued way were homers.

Very true concerning Brickhouse, Prince and Caray - but I still respectfully disagree with your defense of Ken Harrelson.

While any play-by-play announcer is going to slant toward his team of employment, you act as if there are no degrees of "homerism". You would never have heard tirades out of these guys the way you do with Ken Harrelson. Sure they got excited when the Cubs/White Sox, Pirates or Cardinals/Browns/A's/White Sox/Cubs hit a 3-run homer to win a game, but you would never hear these guys incorporating themselves into the game ala Ken Harrelson. I don't think anybody can truly argue that Harrelson isn't the furthest degree of homerism anybody's ever seen out of a play-by-play announcer, but this is only my second biggest problem with Harrelson.

First and foremost, I don't think Ken Harrelson promotes the White Sox brand as much as he promotes the Ken Harrelson brand. Beat the Hawk (NBC local) and The Hawk Wants You! (White Sox Schedule) are just of couple of examples of what I'm talking about. This guy realized in the 1960's that "The Hawk" brand was a potential money maker for him, and he's gone down that road ever since (I'll do all the favor of not bringing up the Nehru Jackets or the Cowboy Attire). The problem now is the "Hawk" branding is obsolete at best, or beaten into the ground at worst. He just doesn't look good driving around in a mauve dune buggy anymore, and it all seemed so contrived to begin with. He pretty much admits this in his book from the 1960's.